


Jouney's start

by a_whovian



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Caring, Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Sickfic, Time Vortex, angsty i guess, caring doctor, in the end at least, kind of Bad Wolf, sick Rose, the Doctor as actual doctor, well more or less
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:23:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6002347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_whovian/pseuds/a_whovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would have happend, if in Journey's End Donna would not have become that Doctor-Donna-Hybrid? If the TARDIS would have saved the day? If Rose would have had the opportunity to have stayed with the Doctor?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jouney's start

**Author's Note:**

> the first part is basically Jouney's End with minor differences. Doctor Who and all it's dialogs belongs to the BBC. I just typed the first part out. Therefore the first bit is not mine.

The Doctor left the TARDIS followed by Donna, they took a moment to look at the empty streets in shock. There was no one to be seen.

“Like a ghost town” The words left Donnas mouth without her thinking about it. She was scared to the bone. She looked asking at the Doctor.

“Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for?” Donna thought he had muttered this vital question to himself but suddenly he turned to her. “Think Donna, you met Rose in that parallel world. What did she say?”

He had questioned her very carefully before but she knew there was no point in arguing so Donna simply said what she had said lots of times before. “Just … the darkness is coming.”

“Nothing else?” The Doctor seemed to be disappointed. He had heard this every time he had asked Donna about what had happened and the answer still didn`t satisfy him.

Annoyed Donnas eyes drifted off to all the empty cars behind the Doctor. Suddenly she could see something moving. Something? No, it was definitely someone! The figure seemed to be carrying a very big device. It almost looked like a gun. A gun? But what could a gun do against the Daleks? Unless… She took a closer look and suddenly she knew who was approaching her and the Doctor.

All that happened within seconds. She turned back, to face the Timelord and asked him: “Why don`t you ask her yourself?”

She could watch the Doctors eyes widening as he looked at her in wonder. Hope flooded his body as fast as lightening. But he didn`t dare to allow his hearts this wish after it had suffered for so long after losing his pink and yellow human, he loved beyond everything he had ever felt before. He didn`t want it to get shattered into even smaller pieces. So he just looked at Donna and pulled his eyebrows together in confusion.

But she simply smiled and looked over his shoulder far behind him. At last his hearts couldn`t stand it anymore and his head swung around.

And there she was. Standing too far away from him next to an abandoned car, clinging to her weapon. It was as though the Doctors hearts never had been broken. He could feel them beat faster as he stared at Rose. She looked at him and a smile made its way to her lips.

How long had she been waiting for this moment? How long had she been jumping from universe to universe just to find her Doctor? Her Doctor who was now staring at her in shock. How long had she waited just to see his face again? Too long, the answer was far too long.  And now he was standing there, barely a hundred meters away from her.  

As he looked at her his eyes kept growing bigger and bigger. He must be dreaming. And as Rose´s smile grew even wider he couldn`t stop his legs from running. Seeing her was not enough anymore, he needed to touch her, to press her to his body, to kiss her and so his legs kept moving towards her. Without thinking his body was pulled into her direction just as though she was the sun he orbited. He had missed her so very much. Now she was running towards him, this had to be a dream.

As they were only a few meters apart from each other she threw her gun away and jumped into his arms and as soon as her face was within reach he pressed his lips to hers. He couldn`t stop himself from kissing her. His lips had desired hers for too long now, as hers were so close they just took what they claimed. Surprised she froze but with every second she melted more into him. His hands pulling her closer to him. Her hands ruffled into his hair. Both so desperate for each other they completely forgot where they were.

Next to Donna the air flickered and a man appeared out of nowhere. He looked at the couple and smiled.

“Finally!” He realised the woman next to him and turned to her. “Hi, I`m Captain Jack Harkness.”

“Yeah, I sort of guessed that” She nodded, looking at his clothes that had been described to her in the Doctor`s stories so often.

When the Doctor and Rose eventually broke apart to catch their breath they pulled each other into a close embrace. And when both were breathing normally again she draw her head back, to look him in the eye.

“Hello.”

He smiled. “Hello. Long time no see.”

“I was busy.” She smiled her tongue-between-teeth-smile he loved so much.

“I missed you.” He cupped her cheeks with his hands and pulled her head to his to lean his forehead against hers. Smelling the familiar scent he could never compare to anything made him feel at home. Something he hadn`t felt in years.

“I missed you to.” Her answer was so quiet that she wasn`t sure the Doctor had heard her.

“Hey you two!” Jack shouted. He waved his arms to get their attention. “Let`s get into the TARDIS before the Daleks find us!”

The Doctor sighed. “He`s probably right.”

She nodded. As they walked towards Donna and Jack Rose and the Doctor entwined their fingers with each other. Rose wondered how something so small could feel so extraordinarily. But in honesty she didn`t care, as long as the Doctor would never ever let her go again.

She hugged Jack as soon as he was in reach but not for one second her hand left the Doctors. She also introduced herself to Donna, more or less the second time. They went into the TARDIS to discuss what to do next.

But as they had all gathered around the console the lights went out. The Doctor ran around the centre of the room flicking switches but achieving nothing. “They`ve got us. Powers gone.” He walked around the console, kept flicking switches and muttering under his breath what he thought they had done to his ship. When suddenly the ground shook. All four fell over lying on the ground, holding on to whatever was within reach.

As soon as the ship had steadied itself again and Jack, Donna, Rose and the Doctor were standing on their feet, trying to figure out, what was going to happen next. But it still felt as though the ship was moving, flying without power meant they were being pulled towards something. Jack had already gathered some information, before he had left Torchwood and told the others what seemed to be going on.

“There`s a massive Dalekship in the centre of the planets. They`re calling it the Crucible. Guess that`s our destination.” He looked worried. He had never seen so many Daleks before. Not that he hadn`t seen loads of them years back on the gaming station of the Bad Wolf Corporation. But this seemed even bigger, it was as though the Daleks had brought every single one of them to battle.

“You said these planets were like an engine, but what for?” Donna could hardly think of anything powered by the sole constellation of a few big rocks.

The Doctor didn`t actually had a clue either. And then he looked at Rose. “Rose! You`ve been in that parallel world. That world is running ahead of this universe. You`ve seen the future, what was it?”

Emptiness filled Rose`s eyes. She could remember the things she had seen and she wasn`t happy about them, for they were not good at all. “Jus` the darkness.” Donna remembered what Rose had said to her in the parallel world she once had created more or less by accident. “The stars were going out.” Rose nodded. “One by one. We looked up into the sky and they were just dying. Basically we`ve been building this erm . . . this travel machine, this . . . erm . . . “She wasn`t too sure about telling the Doctor what they had done to make it possible for her to come back because she wasn`t sure about the Doctors reaction and whether he would approve of that or not. “this Dimension-canon so I could . . . well, so I could . . . “ The Doctor noticed her hesitation “What?” She looked him into the eye. “So I can come back.” He giggled.

Even though she didn`t put the `to you` to then end of her explanation he could read it in her eyes. And this once he allowed himself to appreciate it. To let the fact that she was deeply in love with him sink in only for a few seconds but those mere few seconds healed him. And just this once he didn`t want to hold back, even though he knew it would just hurt even more than ever, as soon as life would rip them apart again. Just this once he smiled back to her, showing all the emotion that had been sealed into a box for so long. He snickered.

“Shut up.” Rose said smiling. But as she looked into his face she remembered where she was and why and she also remembered their current situation: on the TARDIS that was being pulled in the direction of a gigantic Dalekship.

“Anyway. Suddenly it started to work. And the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world not just in yours but the whole of reality, even the void was dead. Something is destroying everything.” Even though she was speaking very calm it was easy to notice her fear of what was going to happen.

Suddenly the screen in front of the Doctor started beeping. He turned to check, what the matter was. “The Dalek Crucible. All aboard.” They could feel their movement slowing down and with another tremble of the ground they came to a halt. They could hear the snarling voice of a Dalek outside their doors. “The TARDIS is secured!”

“Doctor, you will step forth or die!” another of the aliens demanded. In the TARDIS no one said a word. They could hear the noise a ship of this scale with all the Daleks on it would produce and they were terrified. The tension surrounding them was hardly bearable.

The Doctor considered his options. “We`ll have to go out.” He said after evaluating them. There was no other way. “`Couse if we don`t they`ll get it.”

Rose was shocked. “You told me nothing could come through this doors.”

“You`ve got extrapolator shielding.” Jack noticed.

The Doctor nodded knowingly. “Last time we fought the Daleks they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully fledged Dalek empire at the height of its power.” He was just as scared as his companions. “Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything. Right now that wooden door is just wood.”

Rose couldn`t imagine something actually getting through the TARDIS doors but seeing the Doctor convinced, his ship would not be able to stop the forces awaiting them on the other side of said doors, the fear in her doubled.

Tears were filling her eyes. What would they do once they had left the TARDIS? What was going to happen? She couldn`t bear to lose her Doctor again. The last time had almost killed her. Only the thought of the Dimension Cannon making their reunion possible kept her alive. She didn`t even want to think about what it would feel like to be separated again. The Doctor saw the tears in Rose eyes and took her hand in one of his, he placed the other one on her temple, stroking her cheek. She looked up and met his gaze.

He looked into the eyes of his companions. “I`m sorry, there`s nothing else we can do.”

They nodded.

“Surrender Doctor and face your Dalek masters!” a snarling voice demanded again.

“Daleks!” Rose stated, she had never believed to meet them again when everything came to an end. Again.

“It`s been good though, hasn`t it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did.” The Doctor looked at Donna. “You were brilliant.” Donna smiled and remembered all the things she had been through with this daft Martian and she wouldn`t want to change it for the world.

His eyes wandered to Jack. “And you were brilliant.” Jacks mouth formed a grin. He thought about how he had first met the Doctor in 1941 and had danced with Rose on his ship in front of Big Ben.

The Doctors eyes finally met Rose. “And you were brilliant.” He pulled her in and placed a kiss on her forehead. She smiled but it didn`t reach her eyes. This felt too much like goodbye. She feared the Daleks and the Cybermen and a lot of other creatures but most of all she feared right now right here that she would lose the Doctor again. But this time, this time they would go down together.

“Blimey.” The Doctor turned around. Still holding Rose hand. And started walking towards the TARDIS doors. She squeezed his hand and he answered by lacing their fingers together.

As he opened and stepped out he could see more Daleks than he had seen ever since the Time War. This picture put him back into the raging battle of his men and the Daleks. His hand trembled and tears shot into his eyes. Rose took her other hand to hold his with both and rubbed over his forearm.

There was a red Dalek standing on some kind of podium who seemed to be in charge of the others. “Step forth!” he snarled.

The Daleks gathered around the four of them and split them into two groups. Donna and Jack were pushed towards a hallway.

“The humans will be taken for testing.” Stated one of the metal aliens.

Donna raised her trembling hands. “Doctor!” she was scared to death. She herself had never encountered the Daleks before but she had listened to all the stories the Doctor would tell her about them and she feared them.

“Just do as they say. That`s your only chance of not getting killed . . . yet.” The last word was merely a mumble. The Doctor felt helpless and he didn`t like feeling helpless at all. He wanted to protect his friends who were only here because of him.

Jack planned to get inside of the ship properly do see what he could do in order to stop them. But to get inside the ship he needed to get rid of the Daleks attention. “No, I will not come with you!” Jack exclaimed. He pulled a gun from inside his shirt and shot at the red Dalek, called Dalek Supreme, multiple times. “Exterminate!” was the only answer Jack got, before getting shot. Screaming he fell to the ground. Donna who had watched the scene with huge eyes was pushed out of the room. Rose ran towards Jack.

“Jack!” she took his hand and caressed his face. “Oh my god. Oh no!” The Doctor got to her and knelt by her side. He put his arm around Rose`s waist.

“Rose, Come here, leave him.”

She was shocked. “They killed him!”

The Doctor had a vague feeling of what Jack had planned. But he couldn`t tell Rose because then the Daleks as well knew about this impossible man. “I know. I`m sorry.” He rubbed her back, pulling her to her feet but she wouldn`t stop staring at her dead friend.

“Escort them to the vault.” The Dalek Supreme ordered.

The Doctor hold the still frozen Rose. “There` s nothing we can do.”

The red Dalek looked at them both in what seemed to be dominance, if this was even possible. “They are the playthings of Davros now!” He exclaimed. The Doctor felt nauseous at the thought of the false god of his arch enemies.

Before leaving he looked back at Jack who winked at him, then he was out of sight.

He grabbed hold of Rose`s hand again. Both steadying each other they were lead through endless halls until they arrived in a dark room where Davros was waiting for them. It seemed to be the darkest corner of the Crucible. The place it was most impossible to get out of.

“Activate the holding cells.” He snarled. Rose and the Doctor were now separated by a thin but strong wall of energy. “Excellent.” The man in the wheelchair announced. “Even when powerless a Timelord is best contained.”

“Still scared of me then?” The Doctor asked, his anger slowly seeping through.

“It is time we talked, doctor. After so very long.”

The Doctor was annoyed of Davros attitude right away. “No, no, no, no, no. We`re not doing the nostalgia tour.” He turned his head to look in disgust at the man sitting in front of him. “I want to know what`s happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You`re not in charge of the Daleks, are you?”

The Doctor shook his head. “They`ve got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?”

Davros seemed angry at what the Doctor had just suggested. “We have an arrangement.”

The Doctor laughed. “No, no, no, no, no. No, I`ve got the word. You`re the Dalek`s pet!”

“So very full of fire, is he not.” Davros turned away and rolled over to Rose. Looking hungry at her. “And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again.”

“Leave her alone!” The Doctor obviously didn`t like the way Davros talked to and looked at Rose.

“She is mine to do as I please.” The creator of the Daleks announced. His voice growing quiet and far to intimate for the Doctor`s taste.

“Then why am I still alive?” Rose asked, shrugging of the shudder of fear that was flowing down her spine.

“You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek could not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan.”

Davros pushed a button on the armrest of his wheelchair and light fell on an old, scarred Dalek. His metal shell was broken and his true form was revealed.

“So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames.” It uttered.

“What is that thing?” Rose turned to the Doctor.

“You`ve met before. The last of the Cult of Skaro.” He explained. ”But it flew into the Time War, unprotected.”

“Caan did more than that.” Davros said proud. “He was time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you.” Rose stared at the creature in the wheelchair while the Doctor glanced at her.

“This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time. And one of them will die.” Dalek Caan seemed to find a perverted amusement in this situation. He laugh was evil and snarling, it hurt.

“I am not going to let that happen.” The words found their own way out of the Doctor`s mouth.

Davros laughed. “You will fail!”

“At the time of ending, the Doctor`s soul will be revealed.” Caan continued.

“What does that mean?” Davros rolled over the Doctor who was staring at Dalek Caan in both anger and disbelief.

“We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins.” Davros smiled and turned around.

“Testing of what?” The Doctor demanded to know.

The creature turned back to face the Time Lord. “The Reality bomb.”

Above Rose`s and the Doctor`s heads the air flickered and a screen appeared. There were multiple Daleks standing and floating around a marked area. In their middle stood about twenty humans looking around in terror. Atop of them there was some kind of big machine. Glowing green and aimed at the small crowd. In the distance Rose and the Doctor could hear Dalek Supreme: “Testing calibration of Reality bomb. Firing in ten rels. Nine, eight, seven . . .”

“Behold. The apotheosis of my genius.” Davros said very proudly.

“Four, three, two, one, zero. Activate planetary alignment field.”

The Doctor stared at the green thing on the screen. “That`s Z-neutrino energy, flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string.” Suddenly his eyes grew big in shock. “No, Davros. Davros, you can`t!” He shouted at him. “You can`t! No!” He watched in horror as the people on the screen looked up into the shimmering green light above them and got atomised.

Rose stared at the screen and then to the Doctor. “Doctor, what happened?”

But instead of the man she was looking at, Davros answered her. “Electrical energy, Miss Tyler. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter.”

Her eyes grew wide. “The stars are going out.”

“The twenty seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength.” The Doctor uttered his thoughts but made it sound like an insult.

Rose felt nauseous considering earth would take part in destroying all matter everywhere.

“Across the entire universe.” Davros continued his monologue. “Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breading through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!” His snarling voice had grown louder with the last sentences until he was almost screaming in the Doctor`s and Rose` faces.

Through speakers they could hear Dalek Supreme giving orders. “Prepare for universal detonation. The fleet will gather at the Crucible. All Daleks will return to shelter from the cataclysm. We will become the only life forms in existence.”

Suddenly one of the Daleks at the wall turned towards the Doctor, Rose and Davros. “Incoming transmission. Origin Planet Earth.”

“Display!” Dalek Supreme demanded.

The screen on which twenty persons had been killed only minutes ago flickered once again and Martha appeared.

“This is Martha Jones, representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, on behalf of the human race.”

The Doctors eyes widened once more.

“This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?” she continued.

“Put me through!” The Doctor demanded.

“It begins as Dalek Caan foretold.” Davros seemed to be amused.

“The Children of Time will gather, and one of them will die.” Caan uttered once again.

“Stop saying that. Put me through!” The Doctor exclaimed.

Martha`s eyes grew wide, as she saw the Doctor. “Doctor! I`m sorry, I had to.”

But Davros answered for him. “Oh, but the Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent.”

She put herself together. “I`ve got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone. Or I`ll use it.”

Davros looked puzzled at her. Even the Doctor was confused. “Osterhagen what? What`s an Osterhagen Key?”

Martha showed a little black box hanging from a chain. She held it in front of the camera to show it to the Doctor.

“There`s a chain of twenty five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth`s crust.” She explained. “If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart.”

 

The Doctor looked completely shocked. “What?” His voice went squeaky. “Who invented that? Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose. Martha, are you insane?”

“The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option.” And she looked just like that. Completely without hope and as though she had suffered quiet a lot. Not physically maybe but the mental hardship she had undergone in the last hours was even worse than most of what she had experienced before. Only the time when the Master had tried to destroy the earth was as hard as this.

“That`s never an option.” The Doctor protested.

“Don`t argue with me, Doctor! Because it`s more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty six. What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?” She looked very certain.

Rose smiled in the Doctor`s direction. “She`s good.”

Martha seemed confused. “Who`s that?”

Rose realised she hadn`t introduced herself to the foreign woman on the screen yet so she turned towards her. “My name`s Rose. Rose Tyler.”

Martha`s certainty dropped and her voice was only a whisper. “Oh, my God. He found you.”

The Doctor had been searching for her. Rose started to smile again. Even though she was surrounded by Daleks, even though Davros was here to destroy not only earth or him or her but reality itself and even though she was kept in that holding cell she felt invincible at that moment. Her heart beat faster and she looked to her Doctor who was looking back at her. He had been searching for her. He had never given up on her.  

Suddenly another Dalek turned towards them. “Second transmission, internal.”

“Display.” Dalek Supreme demanded again.

The air flickered yet again and another screen appeared next to the one showing Martha.

“Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me? Don`t send on your goons, or I`ll set this thing off.”

Rose eyes grow wide. “He`s still alive. Oh, my god. That, that`s my mum.”

Behind Jack stood Jackie smiling at her daughter, happy to see her still alive. But there were more people.

“And Mickey and Donna.” The Doctor added looking at the two persons next to Jack. “Captain, what are you doing?” he asked.

“I`ve got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up.” Jack explained.

“You can`t! Where did you get a Warp Star?” The Doctor was obviously confused.

Sarah Jane stepped into the picture. “From me. We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners.”

This time Davros was the one who looked shocked. “Impossible. That face. After all these years.”

Sarah wasn`t shocked at all. Her face was filled with disgust at the sight of the creature she thought she would never have to see again.

“Davros. It`s been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?” But this suddenly seemed to amuse Davros.

“Oh, this is meant to be. The circle of Time is closing. You were there” he looked at Sarah. “on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation.”

She looked at him angrily. “And I`ve learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star, it gets opened.” She threatened him.

Jack nodded. “I`ll do it. Don`t imagine I wouldn`t.” He took better hold of the chain at the top of the Warp Star and looked very certain.

Rose grinned. “Now that`s what I call a ransom.” She looked over to her alien friend. He was looking heartbroken, his shoulders sunken, his head fallen. “Doctor?” In all the years she had spent with the Doctor she had never seen him so destroyed.

“And the prophecy unfolds.” Davros snarled.

“The Doctor`s soul is revealed. See him. See the heart of him.” Dalek Caan added laughing. The creature in the wheelchair interrupted him again.

“The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people” he looked up to the screens at Jack, Donna, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah and Martha. His eyes wandered on just to lock on Rose. “and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, Transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.”

The Doctor didn`t want to acknowledge that Davros had a point. “They`re trying to help.”  His voice sounded broken, he clearly didn`t want this all to be real. But he was interrupted.

“Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network.” The Doctor`s head rose towards Rose.

“Who was that?” She suddenly had a lump in her throat.

“Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here.”

The Doctor`s face expressed unbearable pain underneath the surface. He had always hated it, when people died in order to something for him. He was so sick of it but he would never see the end of it. Not even now, that he was trapped in what seemed to be the last minutes of his life, unless Davros decided to keep him as a pet which would be even worse than dying.

“The Doctor.” Davros continued. “The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself.”

Martha interrupted him. “It`s the Crucible or the Earth.” But suddenly there was a bluish shimmer around her. “No!” But it was already too late. The key she had been holding dropped. And in the very same second Jack dropped the Warp Star and he as well as the lot around him vanished into the same bluish shimmer.

The same moment they had disappeared they reappeared in the Vault next to a couple of Daleks only metres from Rose and the Doctor.

Martha tripped, but Jack caught her. “I`ve got you. It`s all right.”

“Guard them! On your knees, all of you. Surrender!” Davros snarled.

“Do as he says.” The Doctor advised them.

“The final prophecy is in place.” Davros continued. “The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come.” The red Dalek came down on a part of the ceiling that had been part of the floor of the level above them.

“Final preparations are to be made.” Dalek Supreme announced. About five metres in front of the Doctor the TARDIS as well came down to their floor.

“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked.

“The Reality Bomb needs power, Doctor. And the Eye of Harmony is going to give us that power. Once the TARDIS is thrown into the Z-neutrino heart of the Crucible it will set free all the power it is withholding.” Davros explained his plan.

“But that will destroy the TARDIS! You`ve taken the defences down! It`ll be torn apart!” The Doctor objected.

Davros just smiled an evil grin. And within seconds the floor underneath the TARDIS opened up into a pitch black abyss. It was gone.

“Display!” Dalek Supreme cried and the screens on which Jack and Martha were shown before flickered into one displaying a big sun-like ball of energy in which the TARDIS dropped.

“Please don`t! I`ll do anything just get her out!” Davros laughed a snarling laugh at the Doctors shout.

Suddenly Rose` eyes grew wide and the holding cell around her disappeared with a flash. Her eyes seemed to be made of liquid gold and she looked as though she was glowing. The Doctor stared at her in shock.

“Reactivate holding cell!” Dalek Supreme ordered but it couldn`t be renewed.

Her head rose, pulling her whole body into an upright position. The TARDIS on screen seemed to undergo a similar transformation. Gleaming and shining it stabilized itself and rose out of the ball of energy.

“What is happening?” Davros asked furiously.

“Rose!” Jack looked shocked. “What is wrong with her? Doctor?” The Doctor who had been silent until now answered him.

“Rose once absorbed the Time Vortex. It never left her body and the TARDIS reached out to her in the moment she needed help.” He looked at her in wonder and amazement as she turned to him.

“Rose. . . “ She moved her frozen face into a heart-warming smile and raised her hand. The holding cell around the Doctor flickered away, just like hers had done a moment ago.

“You`re free my Doctor.” Suddenly the TARDIS crashed through the floor of the room. Rose screamed and her feet left the floor.

“Rose!” The Doctor shouted. “Let go of it! It`s going to kill you!”

She soared up into the air in front of the TARDIS.

“What is she doing?!” Davros stared terrified to the woman looking down on him, surrounded by light, warm and bright.

“Billions of years ago everything started. Everything, everywhere.”

Rose voice sounded as though the TARDIS was speaking simultaneously with her, expressing the words through her, giving her voice more than just one echo. Rose eyes shined so bright, it light up the whole Vault.

“Elements were forged in the hearts of stars. Life began and spread across the galaxies, creating species and subspecies of itself.”

She waved her hand and the TARDIS door flew wide open releasing small specks of light that started to orbit each other, forming tiny star clusters.

“Every single life was made to exist. To be born, to live, to die.”

A few of the little lights went out, others came sparkling to life.

“Every thing and every person has a time to be and a time to end. No one is to control life. To create a whole species out of another.” She looked angrily at Davros.

“No one may end life and death. No one may end reality. You cannot destroy everything.” She pointed at him.

“Of course I can!” The creature in the wheelchair cried angrily.

“You are tiny compared to everything that was, everything that is and everything that will or could be. And it`s not up to you to change all of existence.”

“But up to you it is?”

“No. In the end it is up to life itself whether it will continue to be or to cease. But this decision is not to be made today.”

Davros` head turned to Dalek Caan. “You said it was the end of everything. The end of reality itself!”

Caan laughed. “I lied.”

“You betrayed us!” the creature in the wheelchair shouted in his snarling voice.

“I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed, no more!”

Davros turned back to Rose who was still floating in front of him. The Doctor worried by her side.

“But the Daleks have life in them as well! And I, I am alive!”

“True.” The TARDIS stated trough Rose` mouth. “But life never chose to form these creatures in that way. You took these lives and ended them. They do not exist in the way they should. And this is going to end now.”

She lifted her arms and the Daleks around them started to flicker, like lamps, not properly screwed into their frames. Everywhere the feared creatures blinked out of existence. All of a sudden it went quite. But not only the Daleks themselves ceased to exist, they took everything with them, they had ever build. Including the Crucible.

“Get into the TARDIS!” The Doctor yelled to all of his companions. And they did as he said. All except for Rose with whom he was still standing, unable to ever leave her side again.

He feared for her life. Every second the Vortex spend activated in her head burned up more of her. At this rate she wouldn`t be able to withstand it more than another – he calculated – 2.75 minutes.

He looked at Davros. “Davros? Come with me. I promise I can save you.”

But the creature shook his head. “Never forget Doctor, you did this. You formed your friends into weapons and caused this. I will name you! You a responsible.”

The Doctor nodded. That was a fair price. “I accept that. But I can still save you.”

But Davros turned around and left.

The Crucible started to fade and the Doctor sensed it. They had only got seconds until he and Rose would stand in nothing in front of the TARDIS, so close to home and yet so far gone.

“Rose, let go. It`s over. Let go, it`s killing you!” He sounded terrified. She looked down to him in age old sadness.

“How can I let go? I understand you.”

“You see the same as I do.” He nodded. “But you`re not meant to.”

Sadness grew in him. He would love her to be as one of his kind. Her meant to be like him. She would always understand him. She could always stay by his side. The TARDIS could feel his sadness and anger. She could feel Rose` wish to be meant to be like him. To be able to stay by his side for ever more. And she released just a bit more of her power, setting the Vortex in Rose` body a loose. 

Rose screamed a blood-curling scream of pain. Her body seemed to explode while staying in one piece. She dropped out of mid-air into the Doctor`s arms. He took her into the TARDIS as everything around them slowly faded into nothing. The doors flew shut and the TARDIS flew away.

The Doctor carried his love to the jump seat in the console room. The others gathered around her when her eyes opened again after minutes that felt like hours.

Rose blinked a few times until she could see the Doctors worried face.

“Hello.” The fear left his face and a smile made its way to his lips.

“Hello.” He set her feet to the ground but she was unsteady and leaned weak against him.

The others looked at her in a mixture of shock, amazement and disbelief.

“What happens now?” Martha asked.

“The Daleks ceased to exist. Everything they have ever built got destroyed. Earth was back in place, the moment the Crucible vanished.” The Doctor explained.

“Does that mean everything they have ever done hasn`t happened?” Jack asked.

“But that would mean Gallifrey. . .” Sarah interrupted the Doctor who was just about to explain.

He shook his head. “No. Rose has not got the power to undo that. Even when she had absorbed the Time Vortex she was only able to destroy the Daleks within borders.”

“`m sorry.” Rose whispered.

“Why? You were amazing!” Jack said.

“You were.” The Timelord nodded. Rose buried her face in the Doctors suit jacket.

“I want to go home.” Sarah said after a few minutes and the others agreed. The Doctor landed the TARDIS in London in one of the less chaotic places. Sarah, Martha and Donna, who seemed to have become good friends, left and waved in goodbye.

 

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Then the Doctor landed the TARDIS on a wide beach, somewhere in Norway.

Jackie and Mickey stepped outside. Rose held the Doctor`s hand and pulled him with her into the chilling breeze.

“Bloody Norway again?! Are you kidding me?” Jackie looked very upset.

“How are we supposed to get home?” Mickey added in a not less angered voice.

“Rose, what do you reckon?” Her mother asked her.

She looked her in the eye. “I`m not coming. We discussed this before.”

Jackie just nodded.

“What?” The Doctor seemed obviously confused. Rose turned to him.

“I want to stay with you, if that`s alright.”

The Time Lords hearts beat at the doubled speed. He had always thought she would build up a new life in her parallel world. A new earth. A new job. New people. He had always hoped for her to be in a happy relationship and would at last forget him. Even if this thought broke his hearts he wished for her to be happy and if that didn`t include him he would accept that. But the fact that she wanted to stay with him let him soar high in hope. He would gladly accept her decision but he wanted to be sure she didn`t do something she would later on regret. “Are you sure?”

She could feel his excitement about what she had just said and also sensed his fear of her being not certain. But she had taken all this upon her shoulders just to find him again. She would not give this up for the world. Of all the people she had met this weird alien had turned her life upside down. And she was glad about that. Jumping through all the parallel words in search for him she had almost given up hope of ever meeting him again but now she was holding his hand in hers and she knew there was nothing she needed more than the feeling of him next to her. “Yes.” She nodded.

Jackie looked tired. She had lost this fight long ago. Ever since Rose had started to build the Dimension Canon she had seemed to be so much more motivated. Jackie had realised that the thought of the Doctor was the only thing that kept her daughter alive for years. She wanted her to be happy. And after hours of discussion she had given in to Rose. She didn`t complain. Back in her world the love of her life had died and when she met this worlds Pete she felt whole again after years of aimless living. She understood Rose and was glad, she had found her special someone.

The Doctor looked at her as though he was asking for permission.

“It`s fine. You are what she wants. And if you PROMISE me that she is going to be safe I am happy if she is.”

The Doctor let go of Rose` hand and walked over to Jackie. He wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you.” He whispered into her ear. “This means a lot to me. I promise I will look after her.”

“Do you love her?” Jackie asked him.

“Yes. More than anything. More than my own life for she is my life.” Rose` mother nodded and let go of him.

 

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Rose and the Doctor entered the TARDIS waving Jackie and Mickey goodbye. A tear left Rose eye and the Doctor stopped in his tracks.

“If you are not sure about this . . . I`m not forcing you to stay.” She looked at him in shock.

“I know. I want to stay. It`s just, I`m gonna miss them.” The TARDIS door closed and the Doctor pulled Rose into a warm embrace.

“I know. It will take some time but one day you will be able to think about them and it won`t hurt.” He whispered, burying his nose in her hair.  She melted into him. He enjoyed her smell and her softness. But suddenly she was too soft, too heavy in his arms.

“Rose?” He took a look and saw that she was unconscious. “Rose!” He shook her gently after he could not sense any form of reaction he yelled for Jack who was still on board. Within seconds he appeared in the hallway. As soon as Jack saw Rose he ran towards them and lifted the girl up into his arms.

“I need to get us out of here before the cracks in the universes close. Bring her to the med bay! Down the hall, first turn left, second door on the right. I`ll be with you in a few moments.” Jack nodded and left in the way the Doctor had directed him.

The Doctor flew the TARDIS to the safest place he could come up with at that moment. Gwen and Ianto were pretty surprised when the weird sound they had heard only once before seemed to come out of the centre of the hub.

 

                                                               - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

The Doctor ran to the med bay as soon as the TARDIS was steadied. Slamming the door open he rushed into the room. Jack had connected several cables to Rose` body.

“How is she?” The Doctor was with four long strides next to her.

“Her breathing is shallow and her heart is beating very weak . . . Where are we?” Jack wanted to know.

“Torchwood.” The Doctor said fast. He had started to run his own tests on the barely alive Rose. Uttering names of medications under his breath. Talking to himself rather than to the worried Captain who had not only once asked the Doctor what he was doing.

After hours of tests and multiple medicines he had given Rose she finally was stable. Gwen and Ianto had joined them as soon as the TARDIS had landed and they had walked into the breath taking control room. As it had been empty at that moment they had followed the noise down the aisles to find Jack and the Doctor standing worried in front of a girl lying in a bed, connected to many cables and monitors.

Jack had introduced his friends to the Time Lord and his unconscious companion but the Doctor could not concentrate. He ran test after test but could not find out what was wrong. Night had fallen over Cardiff when he at last set down next to the bed Rose lay in and hold her hand. Not a bit wiser than before and not in the least satisfied with his work. What was happening? What was wrong? Was she just exhausted? The Doctor could not tell.

Jack entered the room holding two cups of tea. He had left the Timelord to himself. He had been so concentrated that he did not answer or even look at the Captain so he had chosen to retreat once Rose was stable.

He took another chair and sat down next to the Doctor. He handed him one of the cups and stroked his shoulder to comfort him. “Any changes?”

The Doctor shook his head. “What`s wrong with her Jack? What has happened? What if she does not wake up? What if she . . . what if she dies?” His voice faded with the last word. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Usually he didn`t cry. He had for so long had the feeling that he hadn`t had any tears left to spend but after all the tension of the last day fell off of his shoulders he couldn`t hold them back anymore. After he had lost her and found her again he could not lose her again. It would break him.

Jack seemed to sense that. “You love her.” It was not a question and still the Doctor nodded. Jack sighed. “I understand.”

The Timelord laughed a sad laugh as though this all was just one big sarcastic joke. “I highly doubt that.”

Jack had the vague feeling he knew there was more but he didn`t want to talk the Doctor into telling him. He would if he was ready.

After a few moments of silence the Doctor sighed. “Timelords love different than everyone else does. A Timelords love is eternal. The minds of the two partners melt into each other. Their hearts beat at the same pace.” He took a deep breath. “Of course we know the love of a human or another species but this is different. A Time Lords life is so long. So lonely. Having a constant character gives steadiness.”

He took a sip of his tea. “I have seen Time Lords and Ladies whose partners had breathed their last die of grief. It`s like a part of you dies with them and you can`t live without that part. Surely I have loved before but this is different.”

Jack looked puzzled. “But she is not like you. That would make perfect sense if she was a Time Lady but she isn`t.” The Doctor looked at him with a pained expression.

“I know. And I have never seen or heard of anything similar before. And I don`t understand. It scares me.” His head turned back to Rose face.

After their cups were empty Jack stayed. The Doctor had started to hum quietly. A melody Jack had never heard before but it brought comfort with it. Just like a lullaby for a baby. Steady, soft and full of love. Bond to the rhythm the monitor connected to Rose` heart provided it floated through the room.

Suddenly the peeping that represented Rose` heart rushed into a faster pace. The Doctor looked up to the screens in the blink of an eye he was on his feet, his hands on the monitor. He turned to Rose to feel for her pulse himself.

But instead of comfortable, evenly beats he had awaited it felt like a much too familiar doubled pace. Curious the Doctor grabbed a stethoscope from a nearby table and pushed it to the left half of Rose` chest. A soft heartbeat filled his head. When he moved the apparatus further to the right there was another beat.

The stethoscope fell to the floor. The Doctor`s eyes had grown big. He wasn`t aware of him holding his breath.

“Can`t. . .” He picked up the device and pushed it to Rose` chest again. Maybe he had just been confused or unfocused.

No. There were two strong hearts beating in the woman he loved. The memory of what had happened rose to his mind and suddenly the explanation of what was happening dawned on him.

“What is it?” Jack, who had watched the scene without saying a word, asked. The Doctor turned to the screen again and pushed a small button on the frame of the monitor. The line showing Rose’ heartbeat split up into two parallel lines, showing what the Doctor thought would have been evidence enough.

“What is happening?” The Captain asked again.

“Rose is becoming a Time Lady.” Pure surprise covered Jack`s face.

“But how?”

“You remember what happened on satellite five? When Rose absorbed the Time Vortex?”

Jack nodded. “How could I forget that? She made me what I am now.”

“All the energy of the Time Vortex, including microscopic particles, never left her body. She had been carrying all that in her ever since she had become Bad Wolf. When the TARDIS was thrown into the core of the Crucible it reached out for help and it found Rose, still connected to her. The TARDIS reactivated the energy and particles in her cells, that`s what we saw, that`s what let the Daleks disappear.”

Jack`s eyes wandered to the girl under the covers. “She saved us. Again.”

The Doctor nodded.

“The second time the Time Vortex raged through her body, it was so much more powerful than the first time. It burned her up but at the same time repaired her. You could almost compare it to a regeneration.”

“That`s the reason, she is unconscious.”

“Yes, it`s like a regeneration coma.”

“But that means she is going to be all right.” Jack concluded.

“As far as I can tell. It will take some time but eventually she is going to be fine.” A smile made its way to the Doctors face.

“That explains the feelings you have.” The Captain grinned. The other man smiled even brighter.

 

                                                               - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

The world seemed a lot brighter than it had hours ago. The Doctor relaxed more with every second. He sat next to Rose and talked to her when Jack came back to tell the others how things had developed.

“It`s eleven in the night. You should get some sleep.” The Doctor shook his head.

“I don`t need sleep the way you do. I`m fine. You should rather get your friends home.” The Captain nodded.

“They`re on their way.”

“Then go to bed. I`ll stay with her.”

Jack rolled his eyes but smiled. “If anything changes come and get me. Understood.”

“Yes, sir.” The Doctor winked at the other man. Laughing Jack made his way back through the console room into the hub and at last to bed.

The Doctor curled his fingers subconsciously into Rose` hair. He told her about the things he had experienced during the time she hadn`t been with him. He told her about the runaway bride, the hospital on the moon, the Daleks in Manhattan, the weeping angels, the Oods, his daughter and so many other things.

The moments he wasn`t talking his soft humming had returned and filled the room again. A more joyful tune this time for he was filled with joy himself. All the years he had been separated from Rose had been agony to him. All those years he had dreamed of what it would be like if she was still there with him.

When he and Martha had been chased by the Family of Blood and he was forced to use the Chameleon Arch he was reminded of the dream he had had when Rose had still been with him. He had dreamed about using the Arch, living his human life with the love of this so much longer one. He had dreamed about aging with her not only being with her as she did, dreamed about spending the rest of his life with her. But he never dared to. He had forbidden himself this selfish act and in return he had lost her.

All those years without her and now she was lying in front of him, becoming one of his kind. Even if she was born a different one. He was happy now, even though something like this had never happened before, as far as he knew. He would need to do a lot of research in old Gallifreyan books that were in his library as well as books he had only heard of, in order to find more information about what had happened to Rose. He would deal with that as soon as she would have woken up and was well again.

Suddenly a twitch in Rose` right hands fingers got his attention. He checked the monitors. Everything was as it should be.

She sighed.

“Rose . . . ?” he took her hand in one of his and placed the other one on her face. His thumb stroking over her temple.

“Rose, can you hear me?”

He could feel a vague presence in his mind. That meant her telepathic abilities were waking up. He tried to give her a feeling of comfort and calm her.

Her fingers twitched again and he squeezed her hand. He got out of his chair and placed his face over hers to take a closer look of her eye movement. Her lids flickered.

“Rose?” He whispered. “Rose, wake up.” She sighed again and her eyes opened slowly.

A smile spread across the Doctors face.

“Hello.” Rose looked tired at him but as soon as her vision had concentrated on his eyes, fixed to hers, she as well beamed a smile.

“Hello.” Her voice sounded tired and hoarse but happy. He stroked her forehead with his hand that had rested against her cheek.

“Are you all right?” She nodded still amazed by his eyes. She had never seen them from such a close distance. Big, warm, wooden eyes were looking into her Bernstein coloured ones.

“Do you know, what happened?” He looked a bit concerned at the sight of her frown. “Don`t worry, your memory might be a bit wibbly right now. It`ll get better.”

He stood up straight. “Do you want to sit up?”

“Yes.” He hold up his hands and she grateful took them to pull herself up. As soon as she sat he turned to grab a glass water for her then he got back into his chair right in front of her.

“Do you know, what happened to you?” he asked more concerned this time.

“I`m not sure. . . It`s. . . I can. . .” She couldn`t find the words to say.

“It can be overwhelming at times.” He nodded. “Rose, you have become a Time lady.”

She looked at him in shock. “I. . . what?” Her hand went to her head and she seemed to get a bit dizzy. The Doctor got up and put her bed in a sitting position so she could lean on something.

“We were on the Crucible.” Her eyes grew.

“I remember that. Jack was there and my mum and. . .”

“Davros.” He completed her sentence. “He was in charge of the TARDIS. He had thrown her into the Core of the Crucible.”

Rose nodded. “There was this. . . this. . . I could feel her falling. I could feel her burn.”

Tears suddenly appeared in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. “I could feel her fear and pain. . . And then. . . I. . . I don`t know.”

The Doctor got up to sit down on the edge of Rose` bed. He placed his hands on her temples and stroke her cheeks, whipping away her tears. She grabbed one of his hands with one of hers and placed the second one on top of his on her face.

“She fell. And when she was dying she reached out to you for help. When, all that time back, on Satellite five, you had absorbed the Time Vortex parts of it and its energy stayed in your body. As the TARDIS reached out to you and you allowed her to. . . to well. . . she kind of reactivated those particles. Every cell of your body was full of the Vortex again. That was too much for your human body to survive.”

He swallowed. “The TARDIS, in gratitude, released more of her energy and it seems it was just enough to transform you into a Time lady. Which actually should not be possible. You can`t just make Time Lords by letting the Time Vortex run through someone`s body. Maybe it worked because you had a lot of time to get used to the power in your cells. Your body may have adapted to the Vortex particles. But I do not understand how or what exactly happened, we are going to need to do some research.” He took his hand from her face and hold both of hers in his.

“Just. . . Are you all right? Are you in pain? How do you feel?” She could see how much she had worried him for however long she had been unconscious.

“`m sorry. I`m so sorry, Doctor.” Tears started to form in her eyes. “I didn`t want to worry you.”

“It`s fine. It`s not your fault.” His eyes surveyed hers. “How do you feel?”

Rose was completely lost in his gaze. She had missed his eyes on her so much. He used to look at her in all kind of inappropriate moments. When they were trapped, threatened, attacked, in distress, confused or in fatal danger. She had always noticed the look he had given her. Worried, fearing not for his but for her live but nonetheless filled with happiness, happiness to have been able to meet her, to fall in love with her. She remembered all the small and big glimpses he had thrown her way. He had looked at her as though he would find something new to be amazed about every time he did. And every time he gazed at her, her heart grew bigger. When they had been separated she had been able to feel the warmth, his looks generated in her, fade. But now with his eyes only centimetres from hers Rose could feel his love stream into her.

“I missed you.” She mumbled. The Doctor cocked his brow and smiled.

“I know. I missed you too.” He leaned in to press his forehead against hers, his hands resting at her cheeks.

The tears in Rose` eyes rolled down her face. His hands stroked her temples carefully.

“Don`t cry. I`m here and I`m not going to let go of you again.”

She started to sob. “I thought I`d never see you again. All these years I hoped but I could never be sure.” He held her as she broke down in relief.

When the shaking that waved through her body had died out they stayed in a tight embrace.

“Doctor?” She whispered into his shoulder.

“What is it?” His voice was warm and calm and it steadied her, comforted her, fixed her heart from the inside out.

“Back in Norway when . . . when. . .” Thinking about it hurt. But it didn`t hurt as much as the times before when she remembered because the Doctor was here, his arms wrapped around her waist. His breath in her neck, his scent all around her. “when you said goodbye.” His grip around her tightened. He didn`t like thinking about it either. “When I told you I loved you. You could not finish your sentence.” She fell silent.

“That was not a question.” The Doctor pulled his head back, to gaze into her eyes again. She nodded, as she looked down to her hands.

“How was that sentence going to end?”

Lifting her head to make her eyes meet with his he placed one of his hands on her cheek, his thumb stroking it. He opened his mouth to say something but before he had found the right words he decided to show her instead. He brought his face to hers and tilt her head a bit. Millimetres from her lips he stopped, hesitated. He looked into her eyes and whatever he found in them it convinced him that what he was doing was the right thing.

His lips softly brushed hers. He tried to be careful for she had just woken up from a rather short regeneration coma but it was hard to concentrate on something as he was doing something he had always dreamed of. Of Course this wasn’t their first kiss.

There was the one she does not remember and probably never will. It was her and his former self. It had been an act of saving. It had been hard to actually enjoy it even though there had been a certain satisfaction.

The second time he had been the man, he was now, but she hadn’t been herself. He wondered if she remembered. He wondered if she was ashamed of it. Back then Cassandra the last real human had possessed her.

The third time was not that long ago but it had been more an act of relief and reunion than real love. He had thought.

But the reaction she showed him now convinced him of the opposite. She ruffled her fingers in his hair and pulled him closer, sucking on his upper lip and making him tremble with need. His emotions took over and he grabbed her face to pull her impossibly closer. When her tongue bushed against his lip he willingly opened his mouth to welcome her. They fought for dominance and when they both were out of breath ( which is quite amazing, considering the Doctor’s respiratory bypass system ) She leaned her head against his.

“. . . Rose Tyler,” he repeated the words from all those years ago “I love you”

She smiled, her eyes closed. “I love you too.”

His arms wrapped around her and he buried his face in her shoulder. There and then their journey began.

 

 

 

 


End file.
